July 12, 1966 Tsunami: Black Sea, Russia
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 5.5 earthquake began at Black Sea, Russia on July 12, 1966 at 18:53 UTC. The water rose as high as 0.21 meters. Its effects were recorded at 8 places in at least 3 countries.
Where the waves reached
The source (white) and every runup with a place, colored by the water height recorded there. A ring is a runup NCEI marks doubtful.
- Under 1 m
- 1 to 3 m
- 3 to 10 m
- 10 to 30 m
- 30 m and more
- Height not recorded
The tsunami
- Date
- July 12, 1966, 18:53 UTC
- Source
- Black Sea, Russia
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 5.5
- Maximum water height
- 0.21 m (0.7 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 8
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 44.750° N, 37.000° E
The toll
The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this tsunami.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Recorded mareograms in stations Gelendzik, Tuapse, Opasnoe, Feodosia, Yalta, Batumi, Mariupol and Kerch. Tsunami amplitude in Gelendzik 20-25 cm. Tsunami intensity I. (reference #4139)
Tsunami height was recorded by the tide gauge with height 42 cm in Gelendzhik (50 km south) and 10 cm in Feodosia (60 km across in the Crimean Peninsula). We should point out that the tsunami record at Gelendzhik is best among all other records in the Black Sea. The record will be shown in the following sections. The intensity of this tsunami can be considered as intensity III–V according to the new tsunami intensity scale of Papadopoulos and Imamura [2001]. (reference #4213)
One may observe that contradictory wave amplitudes were reported by different authors. The highest amplitudes were 42 cm in Gelendzhik, at 50 km to the south, and 10 cm in Feodosia at 60 km across the Crimean Peninsula […] tsunami waves were characterized by the initial elevation of the sea level and that the height of the first wave was not the maximum one. (reference #9391)
Every runup
Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.
| Where | Country | Km from source | Water height, m | Inland, m | Measured by | First wave, UTC | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opasnoe | Ukraine | 69 | 0.03 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Kerch | Ukraine | 79 | 0.05 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Gelendzhik | Russia | 88 | 0.21 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Feodosiya | Ukraine | 132 | 0.05 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Tuapse | Russia | 180 | 0.04 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Yalta | Ukraine | 227 | 0.01 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Mariupol | Ukraine | 263 | 0.02 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Batumi | Georgia | 511 | 0.01 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) |
More
Every tsunami in 1966The 1900sTsunamis of RussiaThe earthquakeThis day in weather historyAlerts in force
Sources
Tsunami events and runups from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI tsunami event 2302.